The People's Liberation Army has doubled the size of its Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Division (AMID) to boost its combat capabilities in the event of a conflict with Taiwan or in the East or South China seas, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
The PLA originally had two AMIDs — one in the Nanjing Military Region and another in the Guangzhou Military Region — comprising a total of 26,000-30,000 soldiers. Between 2007 and 2012, Nanjing's 31st Army Group's 86th Motorized Infantry Division and Guangzhou's 41st Army Group's 123rd Mechanized Infantry Division were both reformed into AMIDs, doubling the total personnel to 52,000-60,000.
The four AMIDs will reportedly strengthen China's combat power as they can cooperate with the 20,000 troops from the PLA Marine Corps to conduct landing assault operations. Each AMID has three battle groups and can carry up to 300 amphibious transport vehicles.
The PLA appears to be looking to diversify the capabilities of its amphibious ground forces as opposed to simply fortifying its Marine Corps as a means to strengthen its authority in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, where it is embroiled in a number of territorial disputes.
A Pentagon report on the Chinese military from 2008 noted that the PLA has been increasing the mobility of its troops in the event of a conflict with Taiwan. The idea of boosting amphibious battle capability was raised in the 2014 version of the report, which said that one of the PLA's strategy options is to quickly take over Taiwan before other countries can intervene.
However, not everyone is convinced that the doubling of AMIDs will necessarily pose a bigger concern to Taiwan. Former Republic of China Marine Corps colonel, Yi-Jia Shiah, said AMIDs are fundamentally different to marines and that the threat is not as serious as publicized, though increased cooperation between the two units will have to be closely monitored.
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